


The Hunted

by MakingPoetry



Series: Albtraum 2.0 [12]
Category: The Covenant (2006)
Genre: Gen, Minor Violence, Werewolf Hunters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-13
Updated: 2020-11-13
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:42:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27546289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MakingPoetry/pseuds/MakingPoetry
Summary: A few days after encountering the werewolf, Tyler has a run in with the hunter who was tracking it.
Relationships: Chase Collins/Tyler Simms, Reid Garwin/Tyler Simms
Series: Albtraum 2.0 [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1813285
Comments: 1
Kudos: 3





	The Hunted

The days crept by and nothing else happened. Ipswich wasn't besieged by werewolves, there was nothing on the news. Everything was quiet, normal. Tyler was just starting to relax again and stop looking over his shoulder all of the time when there was a knock on his dorm door one day.

Pushing back his desk chair, he went to answer it, expecting to see Caleb or Pogue. Instead there was a stranger on the other side of the door, too old to be a student, but not old enough to be a teacher. For a brief second, Tyler panicked that it was a police officer, come to arrest him for murdering someone in the woods, even if he hadn't hurt anyone himself, but there was no uniform.

"Can I help you?" he asked, utterly confused and doing his best to push down his panic.

"Are you Tyler?" The young man asked, glancing past him into the dorm room.

"Yeah, why?" Tyler's suspicion was only growing. Not only was there a stranger on campus, but they were looking for him by name?

"Sorry, I'm Liam," the man said, as if that explained everything. "Is your roommate around?"

"No, he's busy. What do you want?"

"Can I come in? I don't think either of us want to have this conversation in the doorway." There was something about the way Liam smiled that made Tyler's stomach clench, and not in a good way.

Reluctantly, Tyler stepped aside, allowing the man in. As he was walking by, Tyler caught a glimpse of a hunting knife sheathed at Liam's hip, and his stomach clenched again, even as he closed the door.

"You had an incident in the woods a few days ago, didn't you?" Liam said, turning to face Tyler.

All at once, Tyler felt like he needed to sit down, but he forced his legs to obey him and remained standing. "What about it?" he said, hoping that didn't give away anything one way or another.

Liam smiled again, but it wasn't entirely pleasant. "It was the werewolf, right?" He talked about it as casually as if he was talking about the weather, but Tyler's mouth went dry. "I'd been tracking that one for about three weeks. How did you manage to kill it?"

Tyler shook his head. "I didn't-- I don't know what you're talking about."

Liam gave him a _look_ , the kind that said he thought he was being an idiot. "I traced the magical energy from the woods to here," he explained. "If you didn't kill it, who did?"

Tyler shook his head again. Magical energy? That was a thing people could trace? Not even Caleb had been able to figure out Chase was a witch before he'd made it obvious for them. Was there some other method out there?

"Are there others? Other witches or whatever you are?" Liam pressed.

"I don't understand." Tyler wasn't even lying; he didn't understand what was going on. What was the point of forming a covenant of silence if someone could just waltz into his room and accuse him of being a witch?

"Look, it'd be a lot easier if you just told me the truth," Liam said, pulling a crystal on a chain out of his pocket. Something swirled inside of it, pulsing and angry. "This says there's magic here, and it's either you or your roommate. You really don't want me to find out the hard way."

"The hard way?" Tyler repeated, "Are you threatening me?"

Liam laughed, but it wasn't a pleasant sound. "I'm about to do a lot more than threaten you if you don't start talking."

"I've had enough of this," Tyler said, turning to reach for the doorknob. "I want you out of h-"

Before he could finish, Liam grabbed him by the shoulder, spun him around, and slammed him against the wall beside the door. One hand wrapped around Tyler's neck while Liam pulled out his knife, pressing the point of it to Tyler's groin. It was a low threat, but it had Tyler immediately going still, the back of his neck prickling.

"I didn't want to do this the hard way, but you didn't give me much of a choice," Liam said. "Just tell me what I want to know and this doesn't have to get ugly."

"There's nothing to tell," Tyler insisted, even if his heart had leapt into his throat. If he didn't admit to anything, there was no proof beyond that crystal thing.

Liam sighed, hand tightening around Tyler's neck. "You've got guts, I'll give you that much," he said. "But being stubborn isn't going to help anything."

Just as he was starting to dig his knife in, the door opened next to them and Chase stepped in, completely unaware of what was going on inside. Liam froze. Chase froze. Liam reacted first, slamming his elbow into Chase's face. Chase's head snapped back and he stumbled. Tyler took advantage of the moment to punch Liam in the face, shoving him away and slipping out from between him and the wall.

Liam slashed at him with the knife, catching him on the arm and slicing through both his sleeve and his skin. Tyler hissed in pain, trying desperately to move out of reach without tripping over a bed or Reid's shoes on the floor. As Liam reached for him, he was pulled backwards, lifted off his feet, and slammed against the ceiling. The knife and crystal slipped from his hands, landing with a clatter on the floor.

Tyler flinched back, nearly tripping despite his best efforts, and stared wide-eyed at Chase. He couldn't remember if he'd seen Chase this _angry_ before, his eyes black as the night as he glared up at Liam. On the floor, the crystal thrummed, brightening and dimming.

"Guess I had the wrong witch," Liam said, as if he wasn't currently pinned to the ceiling.

Raising a hand, Chase picked up the fallen knife in his Power, lifting it up until the point of the blade was inches from Liam's face. "What are you doing here?"

"Tracking a werewolf," Liam said truthfully. "There was magic where I found its corpse."

"Who else knows about this?" Chase demanded.

When Liam didn't answer immediately, Chase pressed the blade of the knife against Liam's cheek, drawing blood.

"No one," Liam said with a wince. "I'm the only one."

"Chase-"

"Does anyone else know you're here?"

"I work alone," Liam said.

"Good." Chase's lips curled into a cruel smirk and he moved the knife down until it was hovering over Liam's chest.

" _Chase_!" Tyler snagged him by the shoulder, desperate to get his attention. "Chase, don't. Please."

"Why shouldn't I?" Chase said, not looking away from Liam. "Who knows what he was going to do to you. He could expose all of us."

"Do you really want m-" Tyler stopped short, remembering they were talking around a stranger. "You're better than this," he tried again.

"Am I?" Chase finally looked at Tyler.

Tyler nodded, glancing up at Liam and then back to Chase. "You are," he said firmly. "You don't have to do this."

Chase studied him for a long moment, considering his words. "Fine," he relented. "But if this comes back to bite us in the ass, it's your fault."

Tyler exhaled in relief, the knot in his chest untwisting itself. One 'murder' had been more than enough for his entire lifetime, he didn't need to be witness to another one.

Chase held out a hand, taking the knife when it floated down to him. "You're going to leave," he said to Liam, "And you're not going to tell anyone about us. If I find out that you _have_ , I'll kill you."

Stooping, Tyler picked up the crystal from the floor, watching as it pulsed in his hand. "What about this?"

Chase looked over, examining the crystal for a moment. Then Tyler felt his Power surge as the crystal shattered, wisps of something escaping from inside of it. Well, that solved that. But Tyler couldn't help but wonder how easy a crystal like this was to get, how easy it was to track magic.

"Dammit, that was _expensive_ ," Liam complained.

Looking up again, Chase smirked. "That could've been your head."

Tyler made a face, but didn't say anything.

Finally, Chase released his hold on Liam, letting him crash down to the floor while Tyler brushed the crystal shards from his hand into the trash, followed by the gold chain the crystal had been attached to.

"Get out of here," Chase growled, the black fading from his eyes.

Liam grunted as he got to his feet, brushing himself off before holding out a hand. "My knife?"

Chase glanced at the blade then Liam. "No." He shook his head. "Leave with your life or not at all."

Liam looked like he was thinking about arguing, but closed his mouth and headed for the door. With one last look over his shoulder, he stepped out of the room, letting the door swing shut behind him.

Lowering the knife to his side, Chase turned towards Tyler, checking him over. "You're bleeding," he said.

Tyler lifted his arm to get a better look at it, blood seeping into the sleeve of his shirt. "Yeah, he cut me." And it _hurt_. After a moment, he added, "What are you going to do with that?"

Raising the knife again, Chase looked it over before shrugging. "I don't know, but it's cool, isn't it?"

The door opened and this time it was Reid who stepped through, hair damp from swimming. He took a long look at Tyler, Chase, and the knife before sighing. "God. Are you two being kinky in here again? I told y-" he stopped short when he saw the blood on Tyler's arm, and his expression tightened. "The fuck did you do?"

Tyler shook his head. "It wasn't him. There was a-a werewolf hunter, I guess?"

"A _what_?" Reid said, double-checking that the door was shut behind him.

"I know, I know. But that's what he said. He also knew...about us."

"About us in what way?" Reid asked, feeling a sense of dread.

"That we're witches," Tyler said, keeping his voice down even though no one could overhear them. "But he didn't have any proof, just a crystal-"

"-Which I destroyed," Chase interjected.

Tyler shot a look in his direction. "And he definitely knows we're witches because of Chase," he said.

" _Hey_." Chase sounded indignant. "I saved your ass."

"I know you did, but you went a little overboard."

"He had a knife on you," Chase protested.

"I know, I know, but-"

" _Tyler_ ," Reid interrupted. "Someone _knows_?"

"Relax, I don' think he's going to be telling anyone," Chase said.

"Why?" Reid crossed his arms. "Did you cut out his tongue?" That sounded about right for Chase.

"No, but I threatened to kill him," Chase said helpfully.

"Uh-huh." Reid didn't sound convinced. "We've survived all this time by nobody finding out about us."

"And it wasn't anybody here's fault," Tyler said.

"If you hadn't been out in the woods in the first place, none of this would have happened," Reid retorted, shooting an accusing look in Chase's direction.

"That doesn't make it _his_ fault," Tyler protested. "None of us could have known."

"Still doesn't mean I'm happy."

"You're just jealous," Chase said.

"Of what? _You_?" Reid sneered, stepping closer until he was in Chase's face. "You're _nothing_ to envy. You're going to be an old man long before any of us, sad and alone."

" _Reid_ -" Tyler started.

Chase raised his knife until the tip was under Reid's chin, forcing him back a little. "You should be careful what you say, especially to a man holding a knife."

" _Chase_ \- both of you, stop," Tyler said. "This isn't the time for this." There was _never_ a time for this kind of shit, in his opinion. Posturing against jerks was one thing, but seeing his boyfriends ready to tear into each other was something else entirely.

Reid backed off, though he clearly wasn't happy about it. "So are you going to tell Caleb or should I?"

"I'll tell him," Tyler promised, scrubbing his hands through his hair. 

He knew Caleb wasn't going to be happy, but none of this was _Tyler's_ fault, and he was hesitant to blame Chase, either. They really couldn't have known that they'd get jumped by a werewolf or that there would be someone hunting that werewolf.

"You should go," he added, giving Chase a kiss on the cheek. A kiss on the mouth would have fueled Reid's jealousy. This probably did too, anyway.

"You should get your arm looked at," Chase reminded him, as if he'd forgotten about the pain and the blood.

"I will," Tyler promised.

After Chase had left, Reid turned to him. He started to say something, then stopped himself, biting his tongue. Instead, he said, "Take your shirt off."

When Tyler looked at him questioningly, he clarified.

"For your arm."

Carefully, Tyler pulled his shirt off over his head, hissing when the motion pulled at his wound. Reid, no medical expert by far, inspected the injury. It actually wasn't that deep of a cut, and he was pretty sure it was just superficial. Either way, he cupped his hand over it, his eyes flaring as he Used. It was another thing that Caleb would lecture them for, but right now Tyler didn't care. All that mattered was Reid was healing his wound and in a matter of seconds all of the pain was gone.

"Thanks," Tyler said, leaning in to kiss Reid. It was a shame about his shirt, but he could fix that himself, if he didn't mind potentially incurring Caleb's anger.

"Do you think we're fucked?" Reid asked quietly.

Tyler hesitated, then shrugged. "I don't know," he said honestly. "I hope not." He didn't want to lose everything he had, primarily the people. The guys were the most important thing in his life and he didn't know what he'd do without them. 

"Caleb will know what to do," he added. He hoped, at least.


End file.
